Hornady Addresses Ammo Shortage: We’re working 24/7

Big time ammo company Hornady released a statement Tuesday commenting on the ammo shortage and shed light on some key questions they’ve been asked repeatedly.

The Hornady booth at SHOT Show 2013. This year they introduced “Critical Duty” ammo.

“The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours,” Hornady said in the statement. “Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.”

The company asked that you, the consumer, not let Internet rumors on the ammo shortage influence or scare you into paying any outrageous prices. And stressed that if information about Hornday’s supply doesn’t come from Hornady, don’t believe it. Here are the rumors they addressed in the statement:

Q: Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?

A: Not at all.

Q: Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?

A: Absolutely not.

Q: Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.

A: Nope, less than 5 percent of our sales are to government entities.

Q: Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?

A: We’ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We’ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible. If there is any question about that – please take a tour of the factory. You’ll be amazed at what you see.

In short, Hornady, like many other ammo and gun makers, are producing as much as they can, which is more than last year and a lot more than the year before that. And like any business they want to make their products available for those who want to buy them and in turn win the sale.

“We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience,” the company said. “We don’t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer.”